Monday, December 22, 2014
Wasps' new nest in Coventry
On Saturday Wasps played their first game at their new home in Coventry. They beat London Irish 48-16.
This leads to a couple of thoughts on what this may means for English rugby.
First, to be parochial, Coventry has in recent years been a good recruiting ground for my own team Leicester Tigers.
Players they recruited there include Saturday's star for Wasps, Andy Goode, and Neil Back. In the days when he was considered too small to play for England, Back was simply the best player I have ever seen.
Second, there is an irony here. In the late 1960s and 1970s, when I first took an interest in the game, Coventry were the best England club.
Outstanding players they supplied to the national team included David Duckham, Keith Fairbrother, John Gray, Geoff Evans, Peter Preece, Fran Cotton and Marcus Rose.
The BBC video above demonstrates the locals' ambivalence at this new development.
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Wasps are cynical carpetbaggers in moving to territory already well-provided for by Leicester, Northampton and Worcester in the top flight and Moseley, B'ham/Solihull, Coventry and others at the (semi) amateur level. Had they decided to transplant themselves to an area of the country ill-provided for by top-level rugby union - East Anglia, perhaps or Kent, I should admire their initiative but, as it is, I cannot wish them well at all.
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